New Ruins at Reckless Records & Elbo Room, 10/6

With their driving rhythms, and ragged vocals, Champaign / Urbana’s New Ruins are without a doubt one of the bands to watch this year. Founded by Illinois natives Elzie Sexton and Caleb Means, New Ruins have blazed through three albums to get to their latest release, This Life Is Not Ours To Keep.

New Ruins was born in 2004 as a self-recording and self-producing duo. With the addition of new members Dave Samuel on the keyboard and guitar, Roy Ewing on the drums, and Andrew Davidson on the bass, New Ruins has managed to build upon their previous endeavours, and found that complete and driving sound that can’t be stopped.

The record’s agony and destruction filled songs fuel and maintain its driving rhythm. Following in the footsteps of groups like The Raconteurs, this album is easy to listen to and easy to fall in to. You can pick up a copy of This Life Is Not Ours To Keep on CD for now, and the site promises that the vinyl is “coming soon”.

If you want to catch New Ruins live, they will be performing around Illinois for the next few days. Tomorrow, October 6, they will be playing a free, all ages, in-store show at Reckless Records in Wicker Park. Afterwards, you can see them at the Elbo Room for a 21+ performance. Doors at 8 PM | Tickets $8

Then, on Saturday October 8, New Ruins will be celebrating the release of This Life Is Not Ours To Keep at Cowboy Monkey in Champaign.